nra as the nra's leader attacks the parents and students who are calling for change. >> socialism feeds off manipulated victims. you name the group, and they will find a way to turn them into victims. the illumination of due process is the very gold standard of the socialist state. >> we will not be gas lighted into thinking that we are responsible for a tragedy that we had nothing to do with. it is not our job to follow up on red flags. >> a father's pain. one father who lost his daughter in the massacre raising his voice against the idea of giving guns to schoolteachers. >> it was pandemonium. people were running all over the place. you cannot have shoot-outs in the hallways of a school. it didn't save live, it will lead to the loss of additional lives. >> coming up, we'll talk to that

father, fred guttenberg. and mark's 7-year-old child was killed at sandy hook. and the new movement for new gun laws spreading from coast to coast powered by the students and parents from parkland, florida. >> i turned 18 the day after. woke up to the news that my best friend was gone. and i don't understand why i can still go in a store and buy a weapon of war, an ar. >> all the school shootings, it doesn't make sense. should have been one school shooting and we should have fixed it. and i'm pissed because my daughter i'm not going to see again. she's not here. >> how are we not stopping this after columbine, after sandy hook? i'm sitting with a mother that

lost her son. it's still happening. good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. president trump today locking arms with the national rifle association, leading the cause for more guns in america's schools. following the listening session with families, victimized by gun violence, now with more tweets today. writing that he never said give teachers guns during that discussion. and then supporting the idea of giving teachers guns in the very next sentence. and using subsequent tweets to make the case that more guns in schools is at least one answer to the endem i think of school shootings. the president's tweets included support for the nra. the nra leader unleashing a 30 minute diatribe against lawmakers and citizens seeking gun safety legislation. >> you should be anxious and you should be frightened. if they seize power, if these

so-called european socialists take over the house and the senate and got forbid they get the white house again, our american freedoms could be lost and our country will be changed forever. and the first to go will be the second amendment to the united states constitution. >> red meat at the cpac meeting. kelly o'donnell is at the white house. kelly, the president going to be there tomorrow. the nra, other conservative speakers, they are rallying against this movement. times may be a changing, but the nra is still the powerhouse that it is on capitol hill. >> reporter: 1er7certainly we s from the nra a setting of the landscape of their plan to try to an any natumi naanimate theie

views that they hold dear that have been many times been successful at the ballot box. coming in the face of the emotional ground swell that has followed parkland. right now the president is in a meeting with state and local officials talking about a range of issues that do relate to this. and we're getting some comment back from hallie jackson who is serving as the pooler today for tv networks. we do not have the full tape yet until the meeting is concluded unlike the live presentation yesterday. but the president said in this meeting these are just excerpts, so we'll need the full context, that he does want to be working on raising the age limit from 18 to 21 on firearms. also talking about something that wiwill certainly get additional sort of look and controversy related to it is opening mental institutions. there were a whole different set of social issues that curbed that sort of mass mental institutions decades ago. the president talking about wanting to expand mental health

treatment. and then in addition talking about some other areas of violence like gangs and the attorney general of the united states is in this meeting yef sessions, we know there has been tension there, the president praising sessions for his work on trying to deal with the gang problem in the united states. so the president is trying to be responsive to some of what the students and the larger environment following parkland is talking about. are there ways to improve and respond to this issue. at the same time, the president is not talking about banning certain classes of weapons, but looking for some other measures that perhaps critics would say don't do nearly enough. and then as you pointed out, talking about the idea of arming certain teachers. he has sort of qualified that to say teachers that have the appropriate background, perhaps those who had served in the military. a lot of controversy about that as well. so ideas are being discussed. we have seen this before where

the president has shown a willingness to do things that are perhaps not in his own political self interests and then it dissipates as the nation moves on to other issues. that will be one of the big tests with this, can the young people who have brought so much attention to this sustain that. and is the political will changing at all and we've got certainly a respond now coming from gun rights supporters through the nra that appears to be ready for quite a battle other than where this lands legislatively. >> yeah, but i think one big clue is the people invited to today's meeting who are mostly at least according to their past records, we'll have to see what they say, but they are mostly from gun rights states, gun rights advocates. this is a very different meeting. this is a meeting to reassure the base. thanks so much, kelly o'donnell. on wednesday night, fred guttenberg, a parkland resident, lost his 14-year-old day in the tragedy, and he confronted senator marco rubio on the use

and accessibility of ar-15 semi automatic rifles. >> i think what you're asking about is the assault weapons ban. >> yes, sir. >> so let me be honest with you about that one. if i believe that had that law would have prevented this from happening, i would support it. but i want to explain to you why it would not. >> senator rubio, my daughter running down the hallway aty st shot in the back with an assault weapon, the weapon of choice, okay? >> yes, sir. >> it is too easy to get. it is a weapon of war. the fact that you can't stand with everybody in this building and say that, i'm sorry. >> fred guttenberg joining me now. fred, everyone has been thinking about you and praying for you and hoping that you and your wife are sustained at this terrible tragedy.

this moment, the lot loss of your daughter. tell us how you feel after it the session with marco rubio last night and after what you saw the president saying. >> i feel optimistic after last night because of the kids. these kids have been heroic. they have been spectacular. in your open, i think i heard someone refer to them as victims. maybe they were referring to me as a victim. i'm not sure. these kids are heroic, they are not victims. the only victims are the 17 which include my daughter who were hunted and killed, murdered, at their school. i'm horrified by the inability of people who have an agenda to not simply say the truth, to not simply acknowledge how my daughter died.

i'm optimistic though by the slight little bit of movement by senator rubio. if he can come along the way and be a part of the solution, i'm going to put my arms around him and tell him i love him. because honestly, i'm not into this for -- i'm not a politician. i'm a dad who lost his kid a week ago. and as i said on the program earlier today, i start my days now at a cemetery. all i want to do is fix this. these kids who are fighting their hearts out, who are showing us what makes america great, we need to do something. >> how do you feel when you hear these proposals to arm the teachers given what was going on in that school during the crisis? what difference would it have made if teachers had had weapons? >> it would have been worse.

andrea, unfortunately, i've been briefed on some of the film from the hallways that took place during that massacre. you had pandemonium, you had kids running all over, teachers running all over, everyone trying to get to a safe place. you would have had a shoot skrout wiout that would not have saved lives, it would have led to further loss of life. do we need to have more security in the schools, trained securities? you bet. but teachers need to teach. kids need to learn. and security needs to secure. i'm in shock at what is being proposed. i'm shocked that it continues to get repeated. however i'm optimistic that it will be treated as it should which is a no starter. >> david hogg one of the young leaders of this youth movement has been vilified online, there

have been ferocious attacks against him saying that he is an actor, that he has been put up to this. how do you and others counter act that, how do you feel when you see one of these kids being treated this way online and perhaps manipulated by russian bots or others? >> well, the truth -- listen, i'm not -- i've not seen much news this week. but i can tell you about the young man you are talking about who is that rheroic, who is on single minded mission to simply ensure the safety of the place where he goes to learn. for anyone to call him an actor or any of the other kids an actor who wasn't there, who didn't lose friends, who didn't lose educators, listen, i'm a

brutally honest person. but anyone who says that is an idiot and they don't know what is going on and they haven't met these kids who have stood up to everybody, okay on, they have stood up to everybody to simply fight for a safe place to get taught. they are not actors. they are heros. >> and, fred, sadly tragically you're not alone in this because there are other parents who have experienced this before. and if you can stay with us, i want to bring in mark martin, he is founder and managing director of sandy hook promise. his 7-year-old son daniel diedh. you were with the president in that room yesterday and he expressed why he thinks arming teachers is a mistake. >> schoolteachers have more than enough responsibilities right now than to have to have the awesome responsibility of lethal force to take a life.

nobody wants to see a shoot-out in a school. and deranged sociopath on his way to commit an act of murder in a school with the drought come knowing the outcome will be suicide is not going to care if there is someone there with the gun. that is their plan anyway. >> mark martin joining me now. mark, could you talk to fred guttenberg about how to take these tragedies and try to turn them into something that at least has some meaning for those who have been lost? >> fred, i am beyond words of what to say to you. i have a little daughter of my own. this is my natalie. this is my james and this is my little daniel who we lost at sandy hook elementary five years ago. i'm just so sorry. but thank you for your voice. and your advocacy.

please take care of yourself first. and my heart absolutely goes out to you and just know that if there is ever a time that i can be of any comfort to you, i'm here for you. >> and mark -- >> thank you. i appreciate that. >> fred, what do you want to hear from the presented and mark what do you want to hear now from the president who is obviously straddling this line between if we give him the benefit of the doubt trying to be responsive and saying on his talking points i hear you, those were written before the meeting, but clearly gotten both feet let's say in the camp of the nra. fred first to you. >> i want to hear the president be able to say the truth. he gave a lengthy speech after the shooting. most of which i can fully agree with.

but he left out the most important part and it is any discussion of the guns that were the weapon of choice. i want to hear him acknowledge you can't use a car to cause this kind of destruction in the hallways of a school. you can't run after these kids with a knife. it won't cause this kind of destruction. this weapon of war is the weapon of choice. and i want to hear the president acknowledge that and i want to hear him be part of real solutions that show he actually cares about the kids in this country. i don't want to be in this i guess position where i am probably coming on a little strongly with people. but i buried my daughter a week ago. and i won't stop. i will be relentless. i won't stop until there is real common sense reform that will prevent this from happening

again. it is amazing to me. sandy hook five years ago and we're doing this again. i want to hear the president be part of a real solution that says it won't ever happen again. i will tell you, i'm optimistic these kids, they will start running for office, they will take care of it if no one else does. but we might as well do this now. we have no time to waste. you can't have a tragedy like this again. >> mark? >> i will say that to their credit, the president and his administration opened their doors to hear what solutions are available to them. i felt like myself and my colleague and friend nicole hockley were very clear with what we have been working on for five years. we have come up with a model that we know works. it is not political. it is not polarizing. we don't charge for it. we teach students how to recognize the warning signs of someone at risk of harming

themselves or somebody else. and taking the appropriate next step to get that person help before it becomes a tragedy. we have done this, we have been doing this, we have seen it work. we have students who have followed this model and actually stopped school shootings. we have prevented suicides. we have an anonymous reporting system in place right now that is connected to a call center with trained professionals who can triage those tips and stop a crisis or tragedy before it happens. we have these tools available right now. we have introduced a bill in the house of representatives called the stop school violence act that will fund schools who want to train students how to prevent acts of violence. we can do this right now. and i explained to him very clearly yesterday, this is a tool that you have at your disposal right now and we're ready to help and we can do it now. >> but how important is to also do something about these weapons of war, an age limit, any

further restrictions on the sale 1234 that is something that the president has not signed on to yet. >> so there is all this debate over mental health, it's this, that. it is not either/or. >> it's both. >> it's both, exactly. it is all of it. it is a huge problem. s it is not going away. and it is the daily gun violence that is taking lives in our cities across this country every day that we need to address. so any little thing that we can do to help bring those numbers down and save those lives, we have to do it. it is not one are on the other, it is everything. >> we have to do it in the name of daniel and in the name of jamie. and all of the others. >> and all the others, yes. >> fred guttenberg, our aerts are with you with your wife and son and the whole extended family. and of course the families of newtown as well. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back.

wemost familiar companies,'s but we make more than our name suggests. we're an organic tea company.

a premium juice company. a coconut water company. we've got drinks for long days. for birthdays. for turning over new leaves. and we make them for every moment in every corner of the country. we are the coca-cola company, and we're proud to offer so much more. going somewhere? whoooo. here's some advice. tripadvisor now searches more... ...than 200 booking sites - to find the hotel you want and save you up to 30%. trust this bird's words. tripadvisor. smile dad. i take medication for high blood pressure and cholesterol. but they might not be enough to protect my heart. adding bayer aspirin can further reduce the risk of another heart attack. because my second chance matters. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.

you know what's not awesome? gig-speed internet. when only certain people can get it. let's fix that. let's give this guy gig- really? and these kids, and these guys, him, ah. oh hello. that lady, these houses! yes, yes and yes. and don't forget about them. uh huh, sure. still yes! xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. now you can get it, too. welcome to the party.

#. in a furious tweet storm since the indictment of 130 russians in the election probe, president trump is trying to redirect the blame against barack obama claiming that the president, former president, is really responsible for not taking action against moscow when he was president. and his press second sarah huckabee sanders continued that blame game. >> he has been tougher on russia in the first year than obama was in eight years combined. >> joining me now is senior

national security and intelligence analyst john brennan. welcome. great to have you here. let's talk about what was done and what was not done. we know that on october 7, there was an announcement from jeh johnson at homeland then and also from the dni, general clapper, about what the russians were doing. do you think in retrospect with all of the equities of not trying to be political that president obama as many democrats say should have done more to send off alarms against the russians? >> as you know, the president -- president obama confronted president putin. >> at the g-20 in september. >> and i confronted my counterpart at the federal security bureau in early august. and we let them know that there would be consequences to this and that it would backfire. and so i think some legitimate questions are whether or not those confrontations that we had

with the russians dissuaded them from doing more which they could have done. and also it is hard to say whether or not if we were aggressive acting against them might they have in fact done more, might they have tried to follow up their probes of the electoral systems and done some things that really would have brought serious question integrity of the election. so there is a lot of 20/20, but i think we confronted the russians and did what we could in order to further undermining the election. >> moving forward action when, what has or has not been done since president trump was elected compared to the sanctions, the other actions that were taken against the russians at the close of the obama administration, what is your response to president trump saying that he has done more against the russians, against moscow since he was elected than president trump did? >> well, he and sarah huckabee

sanders needs to explain exactly what they mean by that. it is easy to say it, but what have they done to confront it. what i've seen is that donald trump says nice things about mr. putin and continues to deal with russia investigation i think in a very sort of questionable manner. so i don't see the pushback. maybe there are things behind the scenes but if there are, i think he needs to be able to say that to the american people. >> last week alone, the head of national intelligence and all the other agencies collectively told the senate at the threat hearings that the russians are continuing what they are doing and are planning further actions for the midterms and beyond. and the national security adviser said in munich this weekend that the evidence is incontrovertible. yet the president still seems to be of different minds. >> well, i think there are more and more people within the administration who are publicly acknowledging the extent of the russian interference in the 2016

election are also ringing the alarm bells about the need to do things to protect this year ear congressional elections as well as future elections. as well as take steps against the russians sx flighti s explo digital domain. so i think it is up to the president of the united states to be able to confront the russians and talk very publicly and directly about the threat that they posed. and the consequences that they will face if they continue to do this. but up until now, i think he just continues to -- donald trump continues to point the fingers of blame at others as opposed to thinking what his primary responses are as president of the united states, which is protect the safety, security and well-being of this country. and that includes keeping our democratic foundations, our elections, as secure as possible. >> and one of his tweets, he said they are laughing their asses off at us in moscow. i think he mentioned it differently. but what do you think russia is doing? what is putin doing when he looks at this kind of divisive

response and the way the president is responding? >> i think putin is very satisfied by just how disruptive this whole affair has been in terms of our domestic political processes. i think mr. putin is very comfortable with the lack of statements coming out of mr. trump, criticizing putin and the russians for this interference. and i think the eyes of the world are looking at the united states right now and seeing the what is taking place between our political parties and the fact that we have somebody in the white house who is not standing up and saying what the truth is. so i think mr. putin and others in the kremlin right now are unfortunately very satisfied with some of the things that have happened over the last 14 months. >> to my knowledge, there has not been an nsc principals meeting or deputies meeting on this russian threat to our

elections since president trump was elected. we're told that homeland security is working with different state and local officials. but that there has not been an interagency collective call to arms. one has to assume it is because the president himself has been so ambivalent about this. >> if that is the truth, that is outrageous. and that is an abdication of the responsibilities of the president, national security council. we had intense and regular meetings at the national security council level which is chaired by the president just to make sure we understood what was going on and the best way to confront it. if in fact this administration has in order held those meetings while we know that the threat is real, there is demonstrable evidence about what russia has done, if they are not trying to cauterize this problem, if they are not trying to prevent these future attacks against our

country, then there is some real accounting that i think has to ob done in terms of this administration to the american people. >> at the same time we're told by a report in the "washington post" that three top russian spy chiefs were in the united states, in washington for meetings. now, there has been confirmation that two of them were here and now there is push back from the state department because two of these officials were sanctioned by the obama administration and were not permitted to come to the united states without a waiver from the state department for national security reasons. we're told that in one of those instances, an official was given a waiver and did meet with dni coats and director pompeo. but the gru leader who was directly responsible for the attack on our election, we're told that those stories were inaccurate, that he was not in the united states.

rachel maddow's team is trying to find out how did he get here and it is all up in the air. can you imagine why the gru leader would be here and with whom would he meet with not the top intelligence officials? >> well, i met with my russian counter parts several times during my tenure -- >> in washington? >> one time in washington, yes. in fact i had the head of the fsb come to cia headquarters. this was well above the election period. and we deal with them on counterterrorism issues. but we also confront them on things that they are doing. and sometimes knock them up side the head to let them know that it is unacceptable. so i don't know the circumstances of whatever waivers. i don't know the nature of the discussions that took place and the conversations. but in light of what the russians have done, i certainly hope that any interaction with senior russian officials, whether it be here or overseas, be done in a manner that is going to push back hard against the russians.

basically put a tfigurative if not a finger to the chest saying this is unacceptable, stop doing it or you will bear the consequences of it. now, maybe the intelligence chiefs are in a difficult position because they know that they work for somebody who is less likely to do in a vis-a-vis the russians. so again, i don't know the circumstances of it. i think there are ways that such meetings can be productive and constructive if in fact we are very honest and direct with the russians to say to them no more are or you're going to bear the price. >> and finally, on the whole issue of cyber and cyber defenses and what the russians were able to do, we have some reporting also that north korea has now greatly advanced their cyber capabilities and can now reach into the homeland potentially and attack infrastructure and work in the so-called air gap where they can attack computers that are not even connected to the internet.

so a big leap in their asymmetric capabilities. how good are we as defending against these cyber intrusioint? can we stop them? >> it's a difficult challenge in terms of all the opportunities in the digital environment to cause trouble. we need to get better. i think that we have capabilities in a number of different areas. but there is a proliferation of these capabilities not just among nation states like the are russias and chinas and north koreas, but also hacking groups and others who develop the malware, the speer fishing mechanisms. so we need to look at this issue very comprehensively. and i've been calling for an independent commission set up by the congress much like the 9/11 commission so that we look at this over the course of maybe a two or three year period to really comprehensively and thoroughly understand what we need do in order to protect our future, our security, our prosperity in the future.

and unfortunately, i think sometimes politics gets in the way of that. but i'm an advocate of an independent commission. >> and i guess the final thought is, given all that has happened politically and the investigation and the way the white house has responded to robert mueller, how confident are you that the intelligence agencies including the one you led are still independent in their analysis and able to speak truth to power? >> i have great confidence in my former colleagues at cia, fbi, nsa and others. i think the rank and file are continuing to do the work. but it is critically important that the leaders maintain that type of independence and are nonpartisan and apolitical. and i'm hoping that the individuals who head up the cia and office of the director of national intelligence will put their partisanship behind them and really lead these agencies so that they speak proverbial truth to power because frequently it was very inconvenient, the truths that i would bring to the policy discussion, but it is critically

important if we're going to do our jobs on behalf of the american people that we do tell policymakers the pros and cons of some of their policy druthers. but we really need to be able to speak very directly, starkly and forthrightly to them. >> john brennan, man who knows how to speak forthrightly. thank you very much. thanks for your service. and coming up, mixed messages. are members of the republican party actually ready to break ranks with their nra allies and funders?

i turned 18 the day after. woke up to the news that my best friend was gone. and i don't understand why i can still go in a store and buy a weapon of war, an ar. how are we not stopping this after columbine, after sandy hook? i'm sitting with a mother that lost her son. it's still happening. >> sam yesterday at the white

house. a student from parkland, florida. joining me now, michael steele. explain to us if you can how congress works. the nra's influence. we see the nra leaders here at cpac, the president is going there tomorrow. they obviously have a voice, but their voice seems so much larger than the polling would indicate. is it money? is it targeting? >> it's the intensity. the fact that people who support measures to improve gun safety generally vote based on multiple issues. guns rights voters tend to vote on that single issue. there are examples where people have lost primaries, lost elections by getting on the wrong side of the gun lobby. there are no examples of being on the wrong side of gun safety sad advocates. >> so if there is fred

guttenbe guttenberg's sentiment is felt, and we're seeing the kids mobilizing,advocates. >> so if there is fred guttenberg's sentiment is felt, and we're seeing the kids mobilizing,advocates. >> so if there is fred guttenberg's sentiment is felt, and we're seeing the kids mobilizing,dvocates. >> so if there is fred guttenberg's sentiment is felt, and we're seeing the kids mobilizing,advocates. >> so if there is fred guttenberg's sentiment is felt, and we're seeing the kids mobilizing, if they do more than march, if they start targeting the primaries -- >> that will make a difference. and as a supporter of the second amendment, i believe the best thing congress can do is something. anything. ban bump stocks. improve the background check system. anything to show that this is not the same stalemated debate we've been having. >> so the cornyn bill is actually supported by the nra, but what about the feinstein bill which is the age limit? >> that will probably be a state issue. but do something. whether it is cornyn bill, bump stocks, anything to advance this issue to improve the safety of the american people. show people you're listening.

show people you're abilicting. >> what are republicans saying amongst themselves? is this a game changer since these are the future voters? >> yes. survivors at sandy hook were younger, they weren't able to act as advocates. >> and frankly they were from a blue state. >> yes, i hope that doesn't matter, but it does probably. these eloquent heartbreaking horrifying stories have an effect. >> michael steele, thanks so much for your insider's perspective. up next, the white helmets. as the assad regime crushing a key rebel outpost continuing to crush those people, massacre those people including many children, we'll bring you the story of the heroic rescue efforts to save other victims.

i've gotta say, i love the new place. oh thanks. yeah, i took your advice and had geico help with renters insurance- it was really easy. easy. that'd be nice. phone: for help with chairs, say "chair." phone: for help with bookcases, say "bookcase." bookcase. i thought this was the dresser?

isn't that the bed? phone: i'm sorry, i didn't understand. phone: for help with chairs, say "chair." does this mean we're not going out? book-case. see how easy renters insurance can be at geico.com. ♪ ♪

the syrian white helmets, a volunteer organization, frantically working around the clock to try to save as many lives as they can in allepo. those white helmets have been on the front lines of the year's long civil war, they are the focus of an extraordinary documentary called the last men in allepo. joining me now is the director. and as we sit here today, the tragedy in ghouta with hundreds and hundreds of people being killed in this community, a rebel stronghold in the outskirts of damascus which was hit with chemical weapons four years ago and a thousand or more people died. as you try to tell these stories, what hope do you have that the rest of the word will ever respond? >> well, i'm not optimistic. that what we try to tell through the stoerd of a lry of allen po

allen poe and we so the same a snare yoe in ghouta. through the last month, there is more than 2,000 people killed. and this has happened every day and every moment. and there is no response. and just imagine where the optimistic -- and the people from my country, they are banned to come to here. >> and the producer as you just explained can't income for the oscar awards ceremonies you because the syrian authorities are not cooperating to provide the information that americans are demanding under the new visa rules for anyone coming from syria. so many people are have died since you started making this film. what has happened to the white helmets? >> yeah, the white helmets are still active in many cities, not just in ghouta.

beside for the female doctors who are working hard in the cave hospital and underground to do all their effort to help the victims. there is every day bomb. and there is no any response about that. most of my future killed. two of them survived and they are still working in the countryside where also the russians and assad regime are there. >> the war goes on. and america's attention seems to be elsewhere. always we sit here, the u.n. security council is talking about a ceasefire, another cease fire just to get humanitarian relief in. we have to go because the video has now come out, but we will continue and thank you. >> thank you so much for having me here.

thank you. and at the white house, the president's comments in a meeting with local officials including the mayor of parkland, florida. >> -- they must be here for curtis, i assume. what do you think? maybe. well, thank you all for being here. we are doing a lot of things. a lot of things are happening. attorney general jeff sessions, secretary scaesar who is settin the world on fire now with your lowering of prescription drug prices and a lot of other things. we appreciate it. a lot of people are seeing it already what is happening. and especially the lowering of the price of health care, we see what is going on there. it will be a tremendous reduction in health care pricing because of what we're all doing together. so great going. and secretary betsy devos for joining us. today we're here with state and local leaders, law enforcement officers and education officials

to discuss how we can make our schools safe and our communities secure. and no better time to discuss it than right now. and i think we're making a lot of progress. and i can tell you tremendous -- there's a tremendous feeling we want to get something done. and we're leading that feeling, i hope. but there's a great feeling. including at the nra. including with republican senators and hopefully democrat senators and congressmen. i want to thank curtis hill for being here. attorney general. i also want to thank a really tremendous attorney general. that's pam bondi from florida for being here. thank you, pam, very much, great job you've done there. yesterday, i met with survivors of parkland shooting. the parkland shooting is just horrible. so bad for so many people. and is bad for our country. families who have lost their children in school shootings and local community members of

washington, d.c. who want to make sure that every child is safe at school. having a lot of problems in washington, d.c. i listened to their heartbreaking stories. i asked them for their ideas. and pledged to them that we will take action. unlike for many years where people sitting in my position did not take action. they didn't take proper action. they took no action at all. we're going to take action. today, we want to hear from you on how we can improve physical security at our schools, tackle the issue of mental health, which is a very big issue. this person that was caught after having killed so many people, 17. and badly injuring so many others. people don't talk about the injured. and they have to go through life with that horrible, horrible situation that they were put in unnecessarily. people don't talk about that. the people that are so badly -- i visited them in the hospital, in broward.

horrible, horrible situation. we act quickly when we have somebody that's mental unstable, like this guy that was a sickco and a lot of warning signs. a lot of people were calling saying hey, he's going to do something bad. people have to act. as i laid last week, we're going to work together to create a culture of our country that cherishes life and forces real human connections. we're also working to reduce violent crime in america, to make our community places that can be totally safe. for our children, for our families. under my administration, gun prosecutions have increased very significantly. the attorney general is very, very much after that. and we're also after the gangs. the gangs have been incredible.

ms-13, i see where a couple of commentators that are lightweights said, oh, ms-13, who talks about that, that's only talked about on fox. no, that's not talked about on fox. that's talked about in communities where they're killing people. not necessarily with guns because that's not painful enough. this is what they think. they want to do it more painfully and they want to do it slowly. so they cut them up with fivekn. they want it to be a long painful death to people that had no idea this was coming. we're getting them out by the thousands. putting them in jail and getting them out by the thousands. and our people from i.c.e. and our border patrol people are much tougher than they are. that's the only thing they understand by the way is toughness. they don't understand niceness. and our people are much tougher. they go in there. they grab them by the neck. there's no games being played. and i let them know that's what

we want. we need tougher people than they are. our people are a lot tougher than they are. so we're working on getting violent offenders off the streets and guns out of the hands of the dangerous criminals. there's nothing more important than protecting our children. we had a really incredible meeting yesterday with some of the families that have suffered so gravely. in different places. not only in florida. as you know, columbine and it was a very sad situation, but i will tell you, background checks. i've called many senators last night. many congressmen. and jeff and pam and everybody in this room i can tell you, curtis, they're into doing background checks that they wouldn't be thinking about maybe two weeks ago. we're going to do strong background checks. we're going to work on getting the age up to 21 instead of 18.

we're getting rid of the bump stocks. and we're going to be focusing very strongly on methyl health. because here's a case of mental health. part of the problem is we used to have mental institutions. i said this yesterday. we had mental institution where you take a sicko like this guy. he was a sick guy. so many signs. and you bring him to a mental health institutions. those institutions are largely closed because communities didn't want them. communities didn't want to spend the money for them. so you don't have any intermediate ground. you can't put them in jail because he hasn't done anything yet but you know he's going to do something. so we're going to be talking seriously about opening mental health institutions again. i can tell you in new york the governors in new york get a very, very bad thing when they closed our mental institutions so many of them. you have these people living on streets. and i can say that in many cases

throughout the country they're very dangerous. they shouldn't be there. so we're going to be talking about mental institutions. and when you have some person like this, you can bring them into a mental institution and they can see what they can do, but we've got to get them out of our communities. so with that being said, i'd like to ask the very talented people around this table to just introduce themselves quickly and say a few words and maybe we can start off with pam bondi, pam, thank you. >> thanks, mr. president. i'm pam bondi, attorney general of florida. mayor, thank you. i know you're going through a lot now. president, was there that night with me, i think until 3:00 in the morning when all these families were being notified and it was horrific. i know you've been through a lot so thank you so much. >> sure, great job. >> i have a couple issues that -- should i talk about them now? >> you can talk. >> well, one it addresses some of the things you said. if florida, it's called the

baker act but it's our civil commitment act. it's weak. it's about 1,000 pages long. i had my solie i solicitor gene it. we're rewriting it. along with governor scott. he's going to give you a ton of good information. we're going to bring in something called the gun violence restraining order. so if someone is civilly committed. typically you can hold them for up to 72 hours but people are getting out within 24 hours. the majority of them. so what we want to do is let law enforcement come in and take the guns. >> good. >> they're a danger to themselvesings. >> which you can do right now. >> because -- without being adjudica adjudicated. >> you want them to take the guns -- >> when they are committed. >> and not go through six months of legal trials. >> exactly. but we also have to give the mentally ill the due process in which they deserve, mr. president so what they're doing, they're going to be able to take the guns when they're

taken into custody or into the hospital and then when they're released, within 24 hours or 72 hours later, typically it's 24 hours, but law enforcement will have 72 hours to determine whether they should give those guns back or they can go to a judge and say, your honor, please keep these guns, we feel this person is still a danger to himself or others. >> so this would not have worked the way it's currently constituted, this would not have worked with cruz as it's currently constituted? >> as it's currently written. >> so you're going to make changes? >> we're going to make changes. one other thing we're doing about the reporting, mr. president this is a big issue, we need' cle a clearing . we've created, some of my counterparts have done it around the country, but we're the biggest state doing it. it's an app. because kids now are on social media. there were so many warning signs on snapchat, on twitter, on instagram, and they were posting -- they were sending them to all different sources.

we're going to have -- and we just got it written in our house and senate budget. it will cost at least half a million dollars a year to fund this. what it does, kids -- so i met with ten students and they loved it and they said i'm empowering them, three of them are my graphic designers -- >> as the president talks to pam bondi, the attorney general from florida, he's been meeting -- he met today for more than an hour, meeting to talk about school safety with leaders, many of whom, other than the parkland florida mayor, many of whom were from red states and were very supportive of gun rights and this is almost an antidote to the meeting he had yesterday. obviously with the survivor, the parents from sandy hook as well as from parkland. this continuing to dominate the debate as he tomorrow meets and goes to the conservative political action committee and follows wayne la pierre and other nra leaders who have been

getting strong support from that conservative group. that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." kristen welker is here, right next to me, on msnbc. hi, kristen. >> hi, good to see you in person. as we are monitoring that break news with the president meeting with state and local officials, that just wrapping up. we start with president trump who's taken ownership of the gun issue, moments ago, backing his supporters at a major conservative conference today who are demanding guns in schools for some teachers. over the last 24 hour, the president has held public listening sessions at the white house. just now, it was with state and local officials. wednesday, it was with students, parents and others touched by school shootings. next week, he meets with the nation's governors. the president today tweeted support for the expanded background checks and raising the legal age. he talked about providing federal money to train teachers to use guns as well as the need